Phals do not need a lot of light, nevertheless, I feel that if the phal in question were getting adequate light 8oz of water would be gone in a few days and the o.p. would not observe that "The soil/moss (whatever it is) is always moist...I don't think it has ever been dry". So, yes, in this situation of constant damp the phal is being overwatereed. I have to wonder just how well the light of the South window is being captured. If you find yourself adjusting watering to save your plant IMO you will eventually lose it anyway, it will just take longer. And the other poster was right. At watering time as much water as necessary to completely flood the pot and run through the drainage holes should be used then do it again! Then let it sit (in the light) for a week (plastic pot) or 3/4 days (clay pot) before watering again. H

Hi Vega. Your plants look healthy and the damage seems to be mechanical, no disease that I can see. You appear to have them in large bark. These plants like to stay damp. Same conditions as the Phal so I would soak the bark or water them more frequently. Depending on the specific plants, they might require more light than the Phal. You could leave them together and see if you get flowers. If the Oncids don't flower you know they need more light. The Phal has sunburned leaves. If they aren't rotting, you can leave them alone. They will eventually die off. The Oncids look good. Just keep doing what you're doing but water them a bit more often. Jane

To Ohiofem, That's crazy that you've been growing tomatoes for twenty years and yet just five years you've been doing seeds! And by "new to gardening" I mean NEW to gardening. lol I liked the idea of starting from seed because you get more plants for the money, TONS of varieties to choose from, and, being a stay at home mom of an eight month old, it's been fun to take care of. :) As for heirloom versus hybrid, you ain't kiddin'. My Sungolds are the rock stars. They look awesome and are bigger than the rest. Yeah, they are also cherry tomatoes, but as others have said, a lot of times hybrids are that way-super growers. As for not as easy to grow, it's funny because yeah, my pepper and broccoli plants haven't scared me yet like the tomatoes have a few times. haha That's also good to hear that the problem isn't likely bacterial canker. I was just heartbroken thinking it might have been last night. Looked up the Tomato Girl company as a back up plan should my plants not make it. My local nursery has mostly hybrids and a few heirlooms, but none that I was really interested in. As for hardening off, I got some advice from a guy at the local nursery that my plants seemed to be too large for this stage, so I should start hardening off now to slow down their progress some. That way, he said, I wouldn't have to transplant to bigger pots within the next week or two before I plant them outside. He said then they wouldn't have outgrown the pots they're in now. To Suncitylinda, I did notice that having the fan on them helped bulk out their stems. They used to have pathetic thin stems when I first came back from vacation. See, my first year gardening I planted the seeds, then, having to go to Washington to visit family for two weeks, told my husband all the knowledge I'd learned, and then left the next day. I learned almost everything from reading online and reading forums like this, but, since it's my first year gardening, I had never put any of it into practice. lol Bless my husband's heart though, he tried his darndest to keep them alive, and they did pretty well, except they got leggy. That's what I fixed once I got back. The people at the nursery told me they were leggy, put a fan on them, and gosh darnit! It worked! :D As for sitting them outside, hahaha! Being in Utah, in a NORMAL winter(this one has been uncommonly warm), when I started these seeds there'd be some snow still in patches! Lucky you to be able to put them outside once they pot up. I'm jealous. ;) Also, thanks for the reminder about gardening is to DE-stress, not increase it. lol I know I can't be the only one who stresses about these kinds of things-I see posts like mine every day on this forum. We want our babies to grow up right, and lead productive lives, just like our real kids! ;) So thanks for all the advice ya'll and reminders to just relax. I gotta keep in mind what you said about they grow like weeds. I think maybe we do tend to over worry. I know my seedlings seem to pop back real nice and quick after a problem may arise. :) To Bobby, About the planting more than you need-I know. I'm so glad I assumed for some not germinating, and some didn't. And even still, I have three of each that popped up, so even if one died or didn't look great, I should still be fine with my planting adventures. ^_^ So, after listening to everyone, I've decided to not freak that it's bacterial canker(thank you Ohiofem!), chill and take whatever happens, and just in case my problems arose out of wind burn(as a pic I saw does look a bit similar), am hardening off my plants in our 3 sided carport, so no serious breezes bother it yet(thanks both of those to Suncitylinda!). I want ya'll experts to know. Being a newbie to a field that one could never in a LIFETIME master, I'm so grateful ya'll take the time to help people like me. I know you must get tired of all us new to growing asking you so many questions about possible diseases, how to plant, what varieties are good, but I know, at least for me, knowing ya'll are willing to answer our questions definitely keeps me going. It's so easy to get discouraged, worry you don't know what you're doing, so it's nice to have ya'll telling us we're doing alright and keep it up. :) Hopefully that doesn't sound too cheesy, 'cause I mean it.

When you are working with a heavy clay or poorly draining soil, you have to be very careful about amending any plantings.........amended planting holes in clay soils act like buckets. They hold moisture in with all that rich amended soil and the clay prevents fast drainage and you end up with a bucket sized hole of wet muck that leads to root rots. Unless you can amend that entire planting area - not just the planting hole - you are better off to dig a very wide but quite shallow planting hole and plant high....so that the top of the root ball is above grade. You still want the vine itself deep so you mound good soil up to the appropriate level, creating a small berm. Or you can create a raised bed in that area if that is easier. While the coloring on your vine is somewhat pale, it looks quite healthy otherwise.